IF there’s one man who knows how this year’s Olympic competitors will be feeling it’s Tommy Godwin.

The 91-year-old took part in the Games the last time they were in London – 1948 – winning two bronze medals in cycling.

Now an ambassador for the 2012 Olympics, Tommy was in Coventry on Saturday to officially launch the Coventry-based Jewson Cycling Team for this year at the transport museum. Tommy said he was delighted to be launching the MI Racing team, which had a very successful 2011, saying “cycling is my life”.

The Olympian was born in America in 1920 to British parents and moved to the Midlands aged 12.

His interest in bikes began when he started as an errand boy and he was inspired in his dreams by the 1936 Olympics. He took to cycling immediate and started competing, winning a gold medal in the Midlands Olympic trials aged 18, beating seniors with much more experience.

But then the Second World War came along scuppering his hopes to take part in the 1940 and 1944 Games, which were cancelled.

However, in 1948 Tommy’s moment came and he won bronze medals in both the 1,000m time trial and the team pursuit.

And now he is enjoying a new surge of fame with the upcoming London Games. He said: “It’s absolutely wonderful the Olympics is coming back to London. It’s made me a new man, and a VIP! I’ve been down to the stadium and I’ve met Sebastian Coe, who has promised me a job during the Games.

“It’s brought all the memories of my time at the Olympics flooding back.

“When I won the first medal my father, who was a big man weighing 17½ stone, simply burst into tears.”

At the launch of the Jewson Cycling Team on Saturday Mick Ives, who founded MI Racing, said: “I’ve known Tommy for a long time, since the 1950s. In the 1960s, when I was an amateur before I turned professional, he helped and advised me. He told me to stop trying to do everything in cycling and concentrate on the track instead.”

He said he was delighted Tommy had come along to launch the team for this year and was also grateful to Peter Hindle, managing director of Jewson, for the company’s sponsorship.

“The cycling industry was set up in Coventry and this team has been doing its best to put it on the map again with the help of our sponsors. Last year members of the team won 21 individual Championships,” Mick said.